A newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament indicates that, as far as the Antichrist goes, theologians, scholars, heavy metal groups, and television evangelists have got the wrong number. Instead of 666, it's actually the far less ominous 616.

The new fragment from the Book of Revelation, written in ancient Greek and dating from the late third century, is part of a hoard of previously unintelligible manuscripts discovered in historic dumps outside Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Now a team of expert classicists, using new photographic techniques, are finally deciphering the original writing.

I like how the High Priest of the Church of Satan still prefers 666 because the Christians haven't officially switched yet. Nothing like determining your holy symbols based on public opinion of the heretics of the opposing faith.

Well, when you get right down to it, that's more or less what Satanism is about... rejecting the traditional mores of society by embracing their antithesis. Going with 666 because its the traditional more is a fair adherence to that standard.

And, its worth noting, that this is one guy's opinion on what they've found. I haven't heard anything beyond this on the 666/616 being reviewed by other scholars to give it a bit more credence, and even if it was proven to be an older fragment, keeping to the text used at Nicea could be an important point for some faiths.

Most scholars believe that 666 (or 616) is the numerological representation of someone's name, typically formed by associating numerical values with letters and then adding them up to find the value of a name. The person in question is unknown, although the most common suggestion is Nero.

Most scholars believe that 666 (or 616) is the numerological representation of someone's name, typically formed by associating numerical values with letters and then adding them up to find the value of a name. The person in question is unknown, although the most common suggestion is Nero.

Hm...
The Hebrew used for letters to represent numbers. If Nero is N-R-O ("noon", "reish", "vav"), that would give:
noon: 50
reish: 200
vav: 6
256.
So 2^8 is the number of the maniac.

I think many get too carried away on the values of the number. What was meant by 666 or by 616? Hard to say. It could have been code language for any of the following:

—Some teaching which was fast-gaining popularity in Rome
—Anything, especially from Rome, that encouraged works righteousness.
—The rise of Islam
—Caesar
—a hundred other things.
— The UN

Denominations frequently squabble over the exact meaning; as well as whether or not any particular interpretation by the 21st century world is accurate.

The point of the verse however, is that popular philosophies would rise from a source that was not God yet which had its own false perception of righteousness that it would impose on the world en-masse. These false forms of righteousness would demand that true righteousness take a back seat and would seek to silence all opposition to the new universal paradigm.

Some congregations believe that laws being passed in some countries to outlaw both the church and the medical community from ever saying anything negative about homosexuality is the work of the Antichrist.

However, I speculate whether or not that isn't just one small part of a much larger picture.

The fixation with 666 is quite simple: 6 is the number of man. "666" is man, which has a body, mind, and spirit (and is therefore a trinity in one sense just as God is a trinity), trying to dethrone God and put himself on the divine throne.

This could be a literal quest or just a quest in proxy by trying to do away with natural inhibitions in government policy. Science fiction writers are perhaps ahead of this. Cyborgs, cloning, brain chips, etc.

Man seeks to control the universe and acquire power over life and death. This is a dethroning of God by-proxy; telling ourselves that if we can advance our technology to the point of letting us do anything God can do, that we can make him irrelevant in the mechanical functionality of the universe and dethrone him.

There are two movie characters who also desire power over the universe and power over life and death: Darth Sidious and Darth Vader.

Surprised, anyone? Where did George Lucas possibly get his inspiration for that from?...

On the same token, that "333" thing is a joke. Usually, I see it on bumper stickers. It means "devil doing a half-a** job."